Water scarcity report - 11 September 2025
Significant Scarcity is now affecting the Upper Tweed, Mid-Tweed and Lauderdale, Tyne (Lothian), Fife (East Neuk), Leven (Fife), Lunan Water, Lower Dee and Water of Feugh, South Ugie Water, River Findhorn and Findhorn (East) areas. These areas join the River Avon, Lower Spey, Deveron, Upper and Lower Don (Aberdeenshire), Ythan and North Fife areas at Significant Scarcity.
The Whiteadder Water, Lower Tweed and Berwickshire Coastal catchments are no longer at Significant Scarcity.
The Helmsdale, Shin, Conon, Inverness (East) and Almond catchments, and the rest of the Findhorn, Spey, Dee (Aberdeen), Esk (Angus), Firth of Tay, Firth of Forth and Tweed catchments, are at Moderate Scarcity.
The Naver area has been raised to Alert, joining Thurso and Orkney.
Shetland has been raised to Early Warning. The rest of the country remains at Early Warning or Normal Conditions.
Situation summary
This week several catchments reached Significant Scarcity due to prolonged very low river flow. These are the Upper Tweed, Mid-Tweed and Lauderdale, Tyne (Lothian), Fife (East Neuk), Leven (Fife), Lunan Water, Lower Dee and Water of Feugh, South Ugie Water, River Findhorn and Findhorn (East) catchments.
Significant Scarcity continues to affect the River Avon, Lower Spey, Deveron, Ythan, Upper and Lower Don (Aberdeenshire) and North Fife areas.
The Whiteadder Water, Lower Tweed and Berwickshire Coastal catchments recovered from Significant Scarcity after recent rainfall. These areas remain affected by the Moderate Scarcity that covers the wider River Tweed catchment.
Unless there is sustained rainfall over the coming days, the River Lossie catchment will reach Significant Scarcity later this week, followed by the Brodie, River Helmsdale, Cromarty Firth (North), Inverness (East), River Nairn, Kyle of Sutherland and River Carron areas next week. You can monitor this on the Drought Risk Assessment Tool.
SEPA have issued temporary restrictions on some licences to abstract water from the environment in the areas that have reached significant water scarcity. For further information visit Significant water scarcity guidance | Beta | SEPA | Scottish Environment Protection Agency.
The Helmsdale, Shin, Conon and Inverness (East) areas are now at Moderate Scarcity due to prolonged very low river flows. Parts of these areas are at risk of Significant Scarcity by next week as the text above details.
Much of the east coast remains at Moderate Scarcity, including the Almond catchment and parts of the Findhorn, Spey, Dee (Aberdeen), Esk (Angus), Firth of Tay, Firth of Forth and Tweed catchments not at Significant Scarcity.
The Naver area has been raised to Alert due to sustained very low river flows. Thurso and Orkney remain at Alert.
Shetland has been raised to Early Warning, due to lower recent river flows. The rest of the country remains at Early Warning or Normal conditions.
What do the map colours mean?
| Normal conditions | Early warning | Alert | Moderate scarcity | Significant scarcity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue | Green | Yellow | Orange | Red |
Water scarcity area descriptions
Weather Forecast
Unsettled and showery for the next few days, with troughs moving through to bring enhancement to showers, especially in the west, and a low will glance past northwest of Scotland on Thursday to bring more prolonged heavy rain there Thursday as well as gale force southwest winds for a time. A low will move northeast across Scotland on Sunday, with heavy rain pushing northeast across the country, then occasionally heavy rain or showers through much of Monday as low moves away northeast and strong northwest winds.
Advice for water users
Farmers and businesses in parts of eastern Scotland are facing water scarcity restrictions following prolonged dry weather that has caused areas to reach Significant Water Scarcity. For further information visit Significant water scarcity guidance | Beta | SEPA | Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Advice for abstractors and irrigators.
Supporting information
This section goes into more detail on the data behind the water scarcity levels.
Rainfall and river flows
These maps show rainfall and river flows relative to the long-term average, for this time of year, over 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months.
Rainfall over the past month has been extremely dry in the northeast of Scotland, Shetland and in eastern parts of the central belt. Elsewhere, conditions have varied between normal and very dry. River flows have been generally very low in the north and east, while in the southwest and west generally ranging from low to normal.
Over the last three months the northeast has remained widely very dry, with the southeast seeing normal to very dry conditions. Rainfall in the north and west has been more variable. River flows show an east–west split and are generally very low in the east and normal to very high across much of the west.
Over the last six months the northeast has been extremely dry and the rest of the east widely very dry. The west has been more variable, with conditions between wet and very dry, generally drier in southern parts. Across the eastern half of the country, river flows have been extremely low. River flows elsewhere in Scotland have been more variable, although in the southwest flows have been mostly very low.
What do the map colours mean?
| Rainfall | Extremely dry | Very dry | Dry | Quite dry | Normal conditions | Wet | Very wet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| River flow | Extremely low | Very low | Low | Quite low | Normal conditions | High | Very high |
| Red | Orange | Light orange | Yellow | Green | Light blue | Dark blue |
Soil moisture deficit
This map shows this week’s soil moisture deficit. This is obtained from the Met Office Rainfall and Evaporation Calculation System (MORECS). Parts of northeast Scotland and the Firth of Tay are seeing extremely dry ground conditions. Ground conditions across the rest of the east and north of Scotland, along with the far southwest and Orkney, are quite dry to very dry. Generally western Scotland shows no soil moisture deficit.
What do the map colours mean?
| Extremely dry | Very dry | Dry | Quite dry | No deficit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red | Orange | Light orange | Yellow | Green |
Natural water storage – groundwater and loch levels
In each river catchment there is some degree of natural water storage, which can maintain river flows even when it is not raining. This natural water storage is mainly held in lochs and groundwater. When storage has been depleted it will take a lot of rainfall for levels to recover.
The maps below show average groundwater and loch level compared to the long-term record at each individual station. Level is reported as high or low compared to the typical (‘normal’) level range for the time of year.
Level ranges are specific to each station and based on the long-term (minimum 10 years) record of mean monthly level values recorded at individual stations.
Despite the recent rainfall, due to the lack of recharge over the autumn and winter, groundwater levels across most of the country remain low to very low for the time of year.
A number of locations in Fife and Angus, and the Ythan catchment in Aberdeenshire, have recorded their lowest levels for August on record. In addition, Newton of Falkland in Fife and Murton Nature Reserve in Angus have recorded their lowest ever levels in their 28-year and 17-year records respectively.
Without significant rainfall, groundwater levels are expected to continue to fall over the autumn.
August average loch levels are low in the northeast of Scotland with levels elsewhere between normal and high.
What do the map colours mean?
| Very high | High | Normal range | Low | Very low |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dark blue | Light blue | Light green | Light orange | Dark orange |
Flow, rainfall and groundwater data are accessed via SEPA's time series data service (API). SEPA's live data are subject to ongoing quality control and periodic review.
Scottish Water are responsible for public water supply and distribution in Scotland. Scottish Water reports on the raw water stored in these supplies.
Report copyright
- Current water scarcity levels - © SEPA. Some features of this information are based on digital spatial data licensed from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology © NERC (CEH). Contains OS data © Crown copyright (and database right).
- Areas of significant water scarcity - OS Data - © Crown Copyright - SEPA licence number 100016991 (2022)
- Rainfall, river flow, groundwater and loch levels - Base map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
- Soil moisture deficit - Data based on MORECS (Met Office © Crown Copyright). Some features of this information are based on digital spatial data licensed from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology © NERC (CEH). Contains OS data © Crown copyright (and database right). Base map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
- Weather forecast - Crown copyright [2022], Met Office